Leaking

I was sent home early from work today for losing too much money. I've been playing pretty bad. I'm that guy at the table that has flashes of brilliance but overall is playing losing poker. I know this and it's not a good thing. I'm playing well enough to beat the game right now but I'm not adjusting and others are and basically it's leaving me with SEVERAL leaks in my game. And while I'm on the subject, I have several leaks in my life.

Unfortunately this post won't be as long as it should be but I'm going to list my poker leaks for not because it'll help me refocus by putting them down here. It'll also be interesting to revisit this list in the coming weeks.

Leaks:

1a. Leak: Playing too many hands. A friend of mine at the casino called me "Somalius" or something like that because it's a famous online player who is known for playing 50% of hands dealt and still is a huge winner. I don't play quite that many hands but you get the point. I realize no one reading this really knows me but my style would definitely be considered "action player" so the more pots I get in, the more I try to outplay, outdraw and out-bluff people, which many times results in unnecessary big hits to my stack. The benefit is I definitely hit people from the blind side many times but I think I'm just opening up way too much. Today I lost a huge pot with 5-6 offsuit when I turned a missed OEFD (open ended flush draw) into a big river bluff after I check-raised the turn when an overcard hit. Another hand I lost a big pot with J-9 two-pair against T-8 straight. I made a horrendous call on the river when the villain check-raised me huge.

1b. Fix: Limit myself to playing hands in late position and restricting my range to suited cards so at least I'm picking up redraws.

2a. Leak: Calling too many bets and making too many big payoffs. I have now established a reputation as a calling station, which is mainly because I'm in so many hands so I'm also sniffing out a lot of bluffs. However, a lot of players are starting to bet a lot bigger at me when they have made hands and I've been making some bad payoffs. I can think of several occasions where I knew I was beat on the river but I still paid off...kind of by habit. I just couldn't bring myself to make the laydown.

2b. Fix: Develop the discipline to recognize when I'm beat. I have to narrow down my opponent's range and capability to bluff against me. I need to take more time to think about the strength of my opponent's bet and the fact that they know I'm a tough person to bluff.

Alright those are my main two leaks and I'm going to work hard on them. Another leak that really has to do with the first leak is my patience. I've noticed that I've become very impatient at times. I've never been one to blame dealers but now I catch myself looking at the dealer as if it's his/her fault that I'm not winning. I definitely need to be more patient.

Good luck, my March so far has been just like february.. up, down, up, down, up, down. So tomorrow should be up.

My weekend goal is +$6k.

I might head to the Bike because they have a big 150k GTD tournament this weekend so there should be a lot of people there. Not sure, I'm going to hit the home turf at noon.

4years..

February 2010 Numbers

I'm happy to say that I had a productive month during February at the poker table despite a few disastrous days. However, I'm ashamed to say that I spent all the profits on shoes, sports betting, strippers, and bottle service. I'm going to plug this leak this month by eliminating bottle service from my bad spending habits.